I was intrigued to observe a sign being held by one of the protesters at the writers strike in California this week. Scrawled under a sign bearing the Writers Guild of America logo was the message: “Huckabee, Jesus Wouldn’t Cross.”
The protester’s message was being aimed at Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a Christian, who crossed picket lines on Wednesday to appear on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” prior to Thursday’s Iowa caucus.
And it struck me that, in this present age of situational ethics and moral ambivalence, man is continually attempting to create Jesus in his own image, usually to fit the circumstances or states of affairs in which he finds himself.
We often hear conflicting arguments that Jesus would be a Republican or a Democrat if He were living on earth today.
As evidence, we see books such as Clint Willis’ and Nate Hardcastle’s “Jesus Is Not a Republican: The Religious Right’s War on America” or Mark Ellingsen’s “When Did Jesus Become Republican?” We also see Alan Colmes’ book, “Red, White and Liberal,” which contains a chapter (“Jesus was a Liberal”) in which he attempts to define Jesus as a social liberal.
We also hear people insinuating that Jesus would be driving a hybrid car if He were on the earth today. Or we hear that Jesus would be working to help the oppressed people of our world.
Moreover, I believe that even within the church today we often see depictions of Jesus that are simply unfounded.
The fact is that opinions of Jesus don’t really matter.
The only thing that matters in our understanding of Jesus is what He told us of Himself in His Word, the Bible. And the Bible must be our only standard in our endeavors to understand Jesus, the Son of the Living God, and His purpose for our lives.
In this regard, it is important to note that Jesus did not come to earth to teach us what car to drive or which candidate to vote for or to compel us not to cross picket lines.
Instead, Jesus came for one simple reason, as He stated in Luke 19:10: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
That statement applies to all of us, for we are all lost without Jesus Christ in our lives.
Jesus did certainly outline plans for the disciples (and hence the present church) to care for widows, the affirmed and the disadvantaged. But this was not His principal message.
I fear that many people these days are using modern social guidelines such as “inclusiveness” or “multi-culturalism” or “globalism” to define Jesus.
In effect, these individuals are attempting to socialize the Gospel, humanizing Jesus to fit their needs.
These are superficial perceptions of Jesus and have virtually nothing to do with the Bible narrative of His life and design.
And so to understand Jesus, we must first understand that He understands us even more than we understand ourselves; and we fail when we attempt to justify ourselves by recreating what the Bible makes clear about Him.
A wonderful verse is I Samuel 16:7 because it shows God’s uniqueness in His approach to mankind. That verse states: “… for man looketh upon the outside appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart.”
And the heart is where we truly find Jesus and His purpose.
When we trust in Christ, we then know the purpose of Christ.
Paul, writing to the church at Ephesus, explained the beauty of truly knowing Jesus: “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
My prayer for this New Year is that I can reach out in love with this message to many people so that they can truly know Jesus Christ as He wants to be known.
Let’s work together in this effort!
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